Sketch of Christie Mills, Colborne

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The Cobourg Daily Star, Saturday, June 21, 2003
Sketch and text by Barry King

"If these old stones could talk, they would speak of the story of early settlement along the shores of Lake Ontario, and of the beginnings of the communities of Lakeport and Colborne. The old ruins of this mill, built by the area’s first settler, Joseph Keeler, about 1800, can still be seen to the west of Ontario Street in Colborne.

The local name, Christie’s Mill, was for a popular miller who once ran the mill.

Scouting out the territory in 1789, Joseph Keeler, a United Empire Loyalist, was confident enough to bring 40 families with him from Vermont to settle near Lakeport in 1793. Some of the family names — Webster, Webb, Scripture, Gould, Dudley, Mutton, Bellamy, Boyer, Eddy, Bradley, Turney — can still be found in the area. The settlers continued to arrive at the Bay of Quinte.

In 1795, James Farr, who had come to Upper Canada with Joseph Keeler, petitioned Lieutenant Governor, General and Commander in Chief, John Graves Simcoe for land in Haldimand Township on behalf of “upwards of Twenty Settlers with implements of Husbandry to improve immediately.”

Born March 17, 1763, in Lanesborough, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, Joseph married Olive Scripture in Rutland, Vermont, in 1783. His son, Joseph Abbott Keeler, also built a mill at Castleton and went on to become a Member of Parliament in 1867.

In her book “How Firm a Foundation”, Eileen Argyris gives credit to “Old Joe” for the building of the first wharf at Lakeport and for his skills as an early road builder. As well, he took full advantage of the streams and proximity to Lake Ontario to build lumber, grist and woolen mills, and to export lumber by lake boats. Prosperity brought workers from afar to work at the mill, including this writer’s ancestor, Thomas Howard, in the 1840s.

Joseph Keeler lived to be 76 years of age and died at his son’s residence in Colborne in 1839.

Quarried at Lakeport over two centuries ago, the old limestone blocks of Joseph Keeler’s mill have much to say indeed. The mill was demolished earlier this week [2003]."

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